Ever since the Warriors’ All-Star Kevin Durant went down with a hyperextended knee, Golden State has went 2-5. Not only have they been very unimpressive in Durant’s absence, but they’ve now lost their status as the number 1 seed in the Western Conference to the San Antonio Spurs.
There’s still no time set for when Durant is going to return to the floor, so with 16 games left in the Warriors’ season, how much lower can this season get for Golden State?
The Warriors’ 5 games lost in the last 2 weeks are already over a third of their losses for the whole entire season (14 losses). After losing a surprising amount of games, Golden State is only 6.5 games ahead of the Houston Rockets for the 2 seed in the West. The Rockets have 15 games left in their season with 11 of those games being against teams with a record .500 and under. With the Rockets having a much more favorable schedule, it’s not completely insane to give them a chance at ending the season with a better record than Golden State.
Golden State has 2 weeks until they face a really difficult schedule in late March and early April. Starting on March 26, the Warriors will go on a 5 game trip that consists of the Memphis Grizzlies, Houston Rockets 2x, San Antonio Spurs and Washington Wizards. Not only are all of those teams playoff bound this season, but Golden State’s record vs all of those teams combined this year is 2-6. If the Warriors lose any of their upcoming games before that 5 game stretch, their chances at the 1 and 2 seeds in the West could be in jeopardy. Which would give them a possible matchup in the playoffs versus the LA Clippers, the Russell Westbrook led Oklahoma City Thunder or the Memphis Grizzlies.
It may sound far fetched to imagine the Warriors dropping low enough to the 3 seed with a 6.5 game lead over Houston, but it sounded pretty far fetched to think the Warriors would lose 5 of their last 7 games with Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green still active. All it takes are for the Warriors to blow 3 of their 5 tough games in late March, and their 2 seed could slip right out of their very hands. To keep their status as a top 2 seed out West, 2x MVP Stephen Curry will have to step his game up (24% 3pt in last 7 games) and his Splash Brother Klay Thompson (28% 3pt in last 7 games) will have to pick up the slack as well.
